I Became A Mech Soldier After Waking Up in The Future. - Chapter 55

Due to the commotion, the middle-aged woman finally noticed their arrival, stood up and looked at them. Jeanne looked back at the middle-aged woman and smiled. Then she tugged Keiko’s sleeve gently and then whispered.

“Donna Casperia’s alignment deviation happened ten years ago. At that time, it caused an uproar in the Central Army, but it was quickly suppressed by my father in secret. You weren’t in the army yet, so you obviously didn’t know about this matter. In fact, if I hadn’t heard it directly from my dad, I’d have been kept in the dark about this too. When you chat with her later, please be careful of your words and you must not mention this matter to her. This accident had left a shadow in her heart.”

“Yes, I understand,” Keiko replied solemnly.

Then Jeanne took the lead and walked towards Donna, who smiled and said, “Jeanne, I hear you’re coming, but I didn’t expect it to be true.”

The way she spoke was basically telling the people around her that Jeanne and Keiko were her acquaintances. Meanwhile, Keiko sensed that the piercing gaze that had been prickling her back since she entered the slum disappeared suddenly. She stared at Donna with awe, thinking that she was really respected in this community.

“I’m sorry, teacher, I’ve been too busy recently, so I only have a chance to visit you today,” Jeanne replied, warmly smiling.

“It’s okay. I don’t mind it. I know it’s not easy for you to come here,” Donna casually said, and then invited them to her house. “Let’s go to my house. I just finished washing the dishes and it just happened that you’re here. I’ll make fresh vegetable soup for you tonight,” Donna wore a big smile on her lips and led the way. Although her chubby body made her look clumsy, Keiko could see a trace of military mannerism in her gesture.

She guided Keiko and Jeanne all the way to her house. Keiko looked around and found that her house did look better and more spacious than the average house she had seen on the way here, decorated with some furniture and electrical appliances. Keiko guessed that they were all preloved goods that she reused from another family’s garbage. Despite it being second-hand stuff, it was still considered a luxury in this place.

In the narrow and dilapidated kitchen, Donna struggled to squeeze herself inside and try to cook. While stirring the soup in the pot, she asked Jeanne, who was sitting at the dining table behind her, “Little Jeanne, I know you won’t come here just to visit me. Girl, tell me what’s on your mind?”

“It’s really easier to talk to smart people like Teacher than to a particular blockhead,” Jeanne sighed while giving Keiko a sidelong glance.

Keiko’s face darkened as she heard Jeanne’s snide remark, and she grumbled to herself, “You were just chatting happily earlier, why are you suddenly targeting me?”

Unaware of the depressed Keiko, Jeanne continued speaking, “I came here to ask the teacher, a few days ago, did some refugees from the Sariel region enter the slums in the Trudheim region? Who are they, I think I want a list.”

Donna didn’t answer immediately; she continued stirring the pot a couple of times before putting on the lid, and then she strode out of the kitchen to face Jeanne. While grabbing the apron around her waist and wiping her hands, she stared at her progenies’ eyes squarely.

“I can answer your first question; there are indeed many refugees from Sariel here,” Donna gave her a deep gaze from which Jeanne didn’t shy off and smiled calmly, “But before answering the second question, I need to ask your reason first.”

“To tell the truth, I’m searching for two people,” Jeanne said, “Those two are a pair of mother and daughter. Keiko and I met them in the downtown area of ​​Ein before, and I didn’t notice that they were special at the time. I felt something was wrong afterward, so I needed their cooperation to answer some of my questions.”

Keiko’s brow furrowed, ‘For what reason did she reach out to them?’ She suddenly felt uneasy in her heart.

Donna pondered for a moment and sighed, “I know who you’re talking about… Jeanne, you’ve come all the way here and I don’t want to make it difficult for you, but alas…” Jeanne patiently waited for Donna to continue, and, after a moment of silence, Donna said, “I’ll speak honestly here; you can investigate whatever you want, but please don’t get me in too much trouble. That mother and daughter are in a special situation right now, and they are actually not really welcome here.”

“Oh, what’s the specific situation?” Jeanne asked.

“Alas…” Donna sighed again, a look of sadness and pity expressed on her face, “Come with me, I’ll take you to their house and tell you on the way.”

Following behind Donna, Jeanne and Keiko pass through the narrow alley while listening to Donna’s story.

“The pair of mother and daughter came to us five days ago, and since you said that they appeared in Ein more than ten days ago, I guess they came to Trudheim by foot. The mother’s name is Sarah, and the daughter’s name is Diana. They originally lived in Sariel but, about six months ago, the mother completely switched into a deviant, and then she and her daughter were exiled to the Sariel slum.

Four months ago, a large fire broke out in the Sariel slum, and a large number of mutineers took the opportunity to escape and leave the city. Most of them have been captured by now, but a small number of people who escaped early managed to reach Valhalla. You should’ve noticed that Trudheim is on full alert right now and many soldiers and city guards are patrolling around searching for these escapees.

But you also know that Trudheim’s Garrison Chief, Major General Frode, has always believed that the deviants also have the right to a place to live. As long as they escape to his territory, the deviants can be more or less sheltered and live a fairly good life. Although it can’t be said to be a good life, it’s much better than the hellish days in Sariel. This is the main reason why those deviants in Sariel fled here to take refuge.

Originally, as long as I can help, I’ll do my best to help someone in need, just like this mother and daughter, whom I heard she turned from a “lawful good” person to a “chaotic good” person, getting them into their current situation. So, I accepted them and gave them shelter and food. It’s just that I didn’t expect that just one day after I accepted them, they would cause me trouble.

That mother, Mary, has mental problems. She has three personalities: not only chaotic good but also lawful evil and chaotic evil. Her normal personality is chaotic good; she looks very friendly and amiable. Once she switches her personality, she will become a lawful evil and if she is stimulated again, she will switch to a chaotic evil personality: insane and completely irrational.

The first night they arrived here, Sarah suddenly had an episode and switched into her chaotic evil personality, almost strangling one of the neighbor’s children to death. I hadn’t yet settled the matter, but another problem happened. She switched to her lawful evil personality and took advantage of the loophole to hoard the food by cheating some people out of three months’ worth of provision, which I managed to search out from her house to temporarily quell everyone’s anger. Now they are in a difficult situation here, and I guess if they continue like this, they will also be driven away soon.”

Keiko felt a little uncomfortable but said nothing to interrupt her. She just asked, “And, what’s their reason for changing faction?”